Semiotics

Semiotics is the science of signs.

What is a sign?
Sings are words, books, architecture, signs in people’s behavior, etc. In terms of
semiotics, signs always serve as a communicative purpose.
Sign vehicle
Generally, signs consist of a sign vehicle i.e. the physical form of signs, and some
meaning associated with it.
Dyadic and Triadic
Most models of the sign are either dyadic or triadic models i.e. they show either
two or three sides.
The Dyadic Model
The dyadic model was developed by Ferdinand de Saussure while the triadic
model was created by Cahrless Sanders Peirce of the 20th century.
Saussure
Ferdinad de Saussure (1857-1913), was a Swiss linguist and semiotician, the
founder of modern semiotics, designed a dyadic or bilateral sign model.
Ferdinand de Saussure
The Two-sided Sign
Saussure’s idea of the sign is based upon a notion of duality, which
implies the number of two. According to Saussure’s view point,
language is an entirely psychological entity, so things in the real world
do not play any role in the model. The two aspects of the linguistic sign
Saussure identified are mental aspects: the ideas or concepts of things
and the mental images of sounds.
Concept and Sound Image
According to Saussure, concept and sound image are inseparable, and
our mind is structured such that the concept automatically evokes the
sound image and vice versa, that the sound image automatically
evokes the concept. Therefore, concept and sound image belong
together and form a unity.
Signified (Concept) and signifier (sound Image)
Saussure coined the term signified for concept (the meaning or idea
expressed by a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is
expressed.), and the term signifier (a sign's physical form (such as a
sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning.
) for sound image. When we hear “tree”, we do not think of a
particular tree, however of an abstract concept that includes the ideal,
prototypical features of “tree”, for example the trunk, braches, leaves,
tallness, etc. But it is the “impression” of this sound chain in our minds
that is of interest to Saussure. It’s this impression that he refers to with
his term ‘sound image’ and he regards it, as mentioned above, to be
completely cut off from the physical world.
Semiotics
Concepts and Image acoustique
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce was an American philosopher, logician,
mathematician, and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father
of pragmatism". He was educated as a chemist and employed as a
scientist for 30 years.
Born: September 10, 1839, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Died: April 19, 1914, Milford, Pennsylvania, United States
Charles Sanders Peirce
The Triadic Sign
The Representamen (sign or signifier, pointing to an object)
It is the first correlate of the sign, and in most cases, however, Peirce makes quite
clear that the sign is the whole, and the prepresentamen is only part of it.
The Object
Any real or ideal unit we can refer to can be described as an
object in the Peircean sense, and names two classes of objects:
Immediate Object
Immediate object is spoken of when a sign can spontaneously
be associated with some specific object:
Hunger: evokes the idea of the desire to eat.
Mediate or Dynamic Objects
constantly changing
The direct correlation of the sign as to some object can change
over time, so the mediate or dynamic objects are possible
variations of the association of the immediate object.
The Interpretant
It is the meaning or the effect of the sign as created in the
mind of the interpreter.
The Surface of Mars
Unlimited Semiosis
Semiosis is the process of creating signs, and the
representamen stands for something i.e. the object. The
reprenentamen is a representation in the mind of a person
called “interpreter”, so the interpretant is created.
According to Peirce this process could go on indefinitely, of an
endless succession of signs.
Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness
Peirce claims that a sign can stand in relation to that which it
stands for, in three different ways, called “trichotomy”, leading
to a very complex sign theory.
Icon (Iconic Signs)
Icon are sings that are similar to that, which is denoted i.e.
meaning is based on resemblance of appearance. Icons stand
in relation of firstness to the object.
Icons
Index
The index does not resemble the object itself as the icon does,
but it does depict a physical context having to do with that
object. Indexical signs have a cause-and-effect relationship
between the sign and its meaning.
Smoke, for example, refers to fire, although, it does not
resemble the fire, so the relation between indices and objects
is secondness.
Symbol
Symbolic sings have an arbitrary or conventional link. They
refer to their objects by virtue of law. All linguistic signs, i.e.
words, are symbols. To use symbols effectively, you simply
have to know, i.e. learn, their meaning. According to Peirce this
type of relation is called a relation of thirdness.
Peirce developed a semiotic theory that is at once general, triadic and pragmatic

General:
It takes into consideration emotional, practical and intellectual
experience.
It includes all of the components of semiotics.
It broadens the concept of the sign.
The Triadic Sign/model
The signs in a triadic model are characteristically related to each other and are
demonstrated by using a triangle.
(3) interpretant

(1) Representamen (2) Object

Pragmatic
It is pragmatic:
• in that it takes into consideration the context in which signs are
produced and interpreted.
• it defines the sign by its effect on the interpreter.